The Pride of Your Power
by Alex Skywalker
Summary: With great power comes great responsibility.   "We're Vikin's Hiccup. We gotta fight, it's in our blood." The wars with the dragons are over, but a new war is just beginning; one with the selfish power inside. Summary may change!
1. Shadow of the Day

**Hey everybody! So this is my first ever fanfiction, so obviously it's my first ever HTTYD one. Um, don't have much to say, 'cept that I hope I didn't butcher the characters too much. I tried as hard as I could to keep them in character! I hope you like it, and reveiw to tell me how I did! Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>The Pride of Your Power<strong>

**Chapter 1: Shadow of the Day**

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><p>Toothless roared in my ear so loud, it was ringing for many minutes long after I took off running. My heart hammered against my chest, as I fought to get enough breath to keep up my wild dash. It was happening again; night after night it kept happening. This night was no exception. Even though it seems that I'd long ago put the idea out of head, it kept insistently returning, only serving to bring back to the forefront of my mind the haunting accusation: some part of me was either afraid of or expecting Toothless to attack me.<br>Why, I have not the slightest idea. He's been with me now for at least six months, and we've long since gotten past the "eat Hiccup" stage. Now it's just "eat Hiccup if he doesn't provide a fishy alternative". No, not really, but my sleeping mind seems to think so. Even though I know it's just a dream, what with it becoming some sort of nightly routine with my internal dream database, I still felt fear pumping through my veins, adrenaline heightening my senses. My nose hurt from breathing too hard through it, and I could smell the blood on Toothless's maw. Gross, right? Judging by the fact that I'm always the only one in this dream (I know, just my luck) I figured the blood was probably mine. Looking down, I saw a tear in my shirt and blood stains the edges. I looked away quickly, though as of then I felt no pain. Not that I was complaining.  
>Pretty soon I knew I'd almost reached the worst part of the dream: the cliff. Yeah, you're probably thinking: "Oh, now Hiccup has to jump off the edge of a cliff, only to wake up right before the bottom". Well, I wish it was only that easy. As I neared the familiar landmarks- the trees thinned out, and the sun shone down hot on my shoulders- I could see the cliff looming at the edge of my vision. In no time, I was less than 100 steps away. That is one of the only nice things about this dream: I can run, and run fast, for a long time. I steeled myself for what would happen next. Now the surrounding land was devoid of trees or plants or anything living, and my feet were kicking up dust. When I was less than 5 steps from the edge, I immediately back-pedaled, skidding to a stop less than an arms breadth from the edge. I knew what came next, what always came next.<p>

Toothless, seeing that I stopped for a reason other than to serve myself up as an appetizer, dug his claws into the ground, trying gain purchase on the hard packed, dusty earth. His tail came down, in a desperate attempt to stop himself from shooting over the edge, into the void. I stood by helpless, knowing I could do nothing to stop my dragon's fate. As his front paws passed over the edge, he twisted around, clawing at the edge with his paws. He hung that way for a moment, looking back up at me, all the hatred, anger, and fire of the previous moment had left his eyes, and now he stared up at me with an all too familiar expression, that, no matter how hard I tried to reason with myself, could not help crumbling in the face of. He looked at me, his eyes almost asking, pleading for an answer to the question: why? Why did I do this to him? Why did I betray to his death yet again?

I am never able to say to those eyes: "it wasn't me, it was you. You were the one chasing me; you were the one trying to kill me!" because it was never true. Deep down, I seemed to feel that it was my fault he was chasing me, my fault he was trying to kill, my fault he was about to plummet to his death. I know it makes no sense, but I know it's my fault. That it's always my fault. I am, or was, Hiccup the Useless. People may see me different now, but I still see that side of me, whenever I look deep inside. Having a dragon may have changed me on the outside, but on the inside I'm still the same Hiccup. The same Hiccup who can't save his best friend.

As Toothless claws sliced through the ground, I saw fear in his eyes that mirrored the fear I felt in my own. Finally, after much too long a time, Toothless could hold on no longer. He locked eyes with me one last time, before he let go, plummeting over the edge into the void beyond. In his last gaze I saw everything he wanted to tell me, but couldn't. He was chasing me to save me.

It may be just a dream, and even though I remember nothing before the chase, I know I didn't trust Toothless, so he had to chase me away. As realization crashed down, I crumpled to my knees. My hands grasped desperately at the dust on the ground, as if by holding onto it tight enough I could hold onto Toothless- bring him back. Without warning, a shadow fell over me; claws closed in on my face, and I saw no more.

I woke with a start and found myself lying on the floor of my room, my bed sheets twisted around me. Contrary to popular belief, I don't usually wake up on the floor, nor in a cold sweat which I found myself to be in also. I groaned, lifting my head slightly as I looked around my room. My eyes passed over the bed on my left, scanned the blank wall opposite me, and then suddenly came to a dead stop on something big and black. Warm air ruffled my hair, and I stared into two intense black eyes. My dragon, seeing I was awake, sat back on his haunches and tilted his head to the side as if to ask "what are you doing down there—again?"

"It was just a dream, bud." I told him.

Untangling myself from my sheets I sat up and looked out the window. It was already late morning, and most of the village was already up. I could see my father, the chieftain of it all, exchanging morning greetings with my apprenticer, the one-handed, one-legged blacksmith Gobber. I figured my dad was already mad at me for sleeping this late; I lay one arm across Toothless' muzzle and hauled myself up. My prosthetic leg made a strange clumping, clangy noise when I put it down- something I don't think I'll ever get used to. Hobbling slightly, as I still wasn't used to my replacement leg, I made my way over to the door, glancing at my reflection in the window as I passed by.

I sighed at what I saw. Still the same old Hiccup. I still didn't see how people saw me any different than they used to see me. I was still just as scrawny and small; still just as non-descript. The only thing that changed was that now I have a dragon at my side- and only one leg and a half. I pushed open the door, stepping into the sharp, cold Berk air. It hadn't snowed yet, but it's always cold here, as its winter most of the year, and the rest feels like it. And with cold, comes ice, something that I always forget is extremely troublesome with a metal leg. My prosthetic leg hit the patch of ice outside my door, a patch that I hate with conviction, and next thing I knew I was sliding into the splits, swinging my arms frantically as I tried to avoid the inevitable. I landed on my back, Toothless looking down at me with a puzzled expression.

"You're supposed to catch me when that happens, remember?"

He just continued looking down at me with an innocent expression on his face. Grumbling to myself, I got to my feet and hopped off the ice on my good leg. Brushing myself off, I looked up and found myself looking into the face of Gobber. He and my dad were looking at me with puzzled expressions on their faces.

"Heh heh. Hey guys, how's it going? Nice morning we got here!"

"Uh, yeh." My dad didn't seem to be paying any attention to what I'd just said. He and Gobber looked rather worried, actually.

"Is something wrong, dad?"

" Huh? Oh, I just wanted ter tell yeh that you and Toothless did a real good job at the raid last night. Very proud of yeh." Gobber nodded in agreement. I knew what was coming, and I wasn't looking forward to it.

"Dad, we_ just_ had a raid. Why do we have to go on another one? Didn't we get enough, like, booty or whatever from that one?"

"It's not booteh, Hiccup. That's what pirates say. We Vikin's call it"- Gobber started, but my dad stopped him with a wave of his hand.

"Now son, I know yeh don't like these raids, but yeh gotta un'erstand they're necessary. If we didn't attack them first, they'd attack us. Do yeh want that?"

"We didn't raid before the dragons. Why weren't we attacked then?" I fidgeted uncomfortably. I knew I couldn't win this argument.

"Well, every'un was too busy defendin' against the dragons to attack any'un else. Now that we're all safe from them," he glanced at Toothless, "people'll start attacking others. We're Vikin's, Hiccup." He said, forestalling my next question. "We gotta fight, it's in our blood."

I looked at the ground, nudging the frozen earth with the tip of my prosthetic leg. What he said was probably true. The tribes on the surrounding islands would probably attack us, if we didn't attack them first, but something about it seemed just _wrong_. It's probably just the annoying un-Viking part of me grappling for control of my oh-so-Viking mind.

"Come on Hiccup." My dad looked down at me, almost pleadingly. I had to admit it was nice for my dad to finally need me, I only wished it was just me he needed, not me and Toothless. Really, he just needed Toothless, but Toothless needed me to fly, so he came to me. It also helped that I could talk, while Toothless couldn't. I knew what I had to do. I was tired of the all the times I _hadn't _made my dad proud. I didn't want to go back to those times. I was different now. I was no longer Hiccup the Useless, I was Hiccup the Useful. Hiccup the dragon rider, the one who saved Berk from the Red Death. Swelling my chest out, I stood as tall as I could and looked my dad in the eyes.

"I'll do it for you, Dad."

His and Gobber's eyes lit up at these words, and my dad clapped me on the shoulder, gently, but I still went hurtling forward. Thankfully Gobber caught me before I fell again.

"Hiccup, I'm so proud of yeh." My dad smiled at me in a way he never used to. I tried to smile convincingly back. I must have done a pretty good job, because he and Gobber turned and hurried back towards the village, my dad shouting out to other Vikings, giving instructions to them about the raid fast approaching.

When they'd gone, my smile melted off, and I scowled at Toothless, who tilted his head at me. I wondered if he knew what he was doing when he flew through the villages, roaring and shooting fire, scaring the people until they surrendered. He did it because I asked him to, that's all I knew. I don't think he enjoyed it, but he never showed apprehension.

"Oh Toothless, what am I supposed to do? I can't say no to him, but he wants to go on raids like every week, or even more often sometimes. Where does he even find all these islands to raid anyways? I didn't know there were that many islands around Berk. At least none with people." I sighed. "Come on, bud. We should get to the shop."

Together we walked down the hill from my house leading to the village, me leaning on Toothless so my prosthetic leg wouldn't slip. As I walked through the village, people bombarded me from all sides with "encouraging" comments. A lot has changed in the past few months.

"Hey Hiccup! Nice job last night. I got this great gauntlet cause of you!"

"Hiccup! Can't wait to recreate the "scene" again tonight! It's gonna be great!"

"Hiccup, if ya need anythin', just ask old Uncle Spitelout!"

"Yeah, sure." I called back, trying to sound convincing. I've never been a very good liar, but most people on Berk don't possess enough brain cells to know. Usually because they knock them out against each other.

"Hey, Hiccup, wait up!"

"Yeah, Hiccup, hold up a sec!"

I turned and saw two blonde Vikings running towards me, shoving each other as they did so. Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Great, just what I needed. I stopped and let them catch up to me. Ruffnut shoved her brother and he flew into me and we both went tumbling to the ground, Toothless jumping excitedly and sniffing us.

"Oops, sorry Hiccup, that was all my _sister's_ fault."

"My fault? How is it my fault. You're just clumsy!"

"Am not!"

"Are to!"

"Am not!"

"Are to!"

I sighed as they flew at each other, kicking and punching and generally wreaking havoc. All I could think about just then was how glad I was I didn't have a twin. I probably wouldn't have survived much past infancy. As I got up and brushed myself off for the second time today, Ruffnut and Tuffnut seemed to have somewhat solved their dispute, though they both looked a little worse for the wear. Toothless and I started off towards Gobber's shop again, and they both followed behind, excitedly talking about the raid tonight. I should have known that was what they were here for. Ever since I defeated the Red Death, they've been treating a whole ton better than they used to, but they don't usually seek me out other than to talk about the raids.

"So like, this time I'm gonna head straight for the mead hall. Get the best plunder and all. Maybe bash a few skulls while I'm at it."

"The only skull you're going to bash is your own, looser." Ruffnut hit her brother on the head with a shield she was carrying.

"You're just jealous cause I always get the best plunder and you're stuck with the leftovers."

"You wish!"

"See Ruff, you just need to be more assertive, like me. Go out there first, battle into the fray, don't hold back!"

"You don't know the first thing about being in the 'fray'."

"Do to!"

"Do not!"

"Do to!"

"Do not!"

"I so do!"

"You so do not!"

This could get a little repetitive. "Listen, guys. Not that I don't enjoy your stimulating company and all, I really have to get to the shop, so unless you have something to tell me, I'll just be"-

"Hiccup's the reason we win all the fights, though." Ruffnut spoke up, cutting me off.

"Yeah, Hiccup and Toothless are the best! The like, rock!"

Toothless stuck his head in the air, puffing out his chest and strutting around us like, well,

something. He even blasted a fireball for good impression.

"Aaah! Toothless! What are you doing!" I waved for him to stop and looked over at the now-burning house in front of us. "Toothless, look what you've done now! Aaargh!"

Toothless looked sheepish as he nudged my arm.

"Uh, I just remembered. I, uh, have like broom making class in like, five minutes. Can't be late for that!" Tuffnut called to me, already heading in the other direction.

"Yeah, me too. 'Cept it's not broom making, cause that's stupid." Ruffnut said.

"Broom making is not stupid!"

"Is to!"

"Is not!"

"Is to!"

"Is not!"

I blew out my cheeks, watching as the house burned. "Okay guys, nice seeing you! Maybe I'll see you around." Turning back to Toothless, I spoke again, "Now what am I going to do?"

Well as it turned out, I was going to get yelled at by the owner of the house, then made to carry buckets of water back and forth from the well until the fire was out. Toothless tried to help, but ended up spilling most of the water on me.

"Gah, Toothless! Stop getting me wet!" As I stepped with my prosthetic leg, I didn't see the patch of ice, newly formed by all the water Toothless had spilled, and next thing I knew, I was on the ground for the third time that day, my own bucket of water having emptied itself on my chest. "Great. Just great." I sighed.

"Look who it is, laying on the ground as usual." Looking up, I saw a pair of blue eyes grinning at me mischievously.

"Hello Astrid."

"That wasn't a very cheerful hello." She said, reaching down and pulling me up with such force I nearly fell down again. Her blonde hair was braided down her back, as usual, and she wore her usual armor. I think she's taller than me, but I'm not sure. She's definitely stronger than me (because I'm the strongest Viking out there, right) and is one of the toughest female Vikings on Berk, maybe even one of the toughest of all Vikings.

"Yeah well, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not in a very cheerful mood right now." I answered, looking down at my now soaked clothes. Everything was completely drenched, and I could feel my hair starting to freeze.

"Come on, I'll help you finish putting out the house." Oh, so I guess she knew.

Twenty minutes later, we were all walking towards Gobber's shop, me shivering violently in my wet, frozen clothes, and Toothless worriedly trying to melt them with his breath. After a couple tries, I made him stop, for fear he would set_ me_ on fire.

"People may see you differently, but I still see the same old Hiccup." Astrid laughed, watching me stumble along, trying to avoid ice patches.

"That's what I keep trying to tell people. Just because I killed a dragon doesn't mean I'm suddenly a great warrior or anything."

"But it's not like you just killed that dragon and went back to being useless."

"Thanks, wouldn't want that to happen."

"You help with the raids! You are the reason we always are successful! Everyone loves you for that."

"They love Toothless, not me. They only like me because Toothless can't fly without me."

Seeing my glum expression, Astrid asked:

"Is something wrong Hiccup?"

"I'll tell you inside." I answered, wanting to focus on walking right now. It was getting icier and my bad leg was beginning to hurt, twinging every time I put pressure on it. I could feel Astrid's worried gaze, but was determined not look at her.

By the time we got to Gobber's shop, my limp was noticeable, though I tried to hide it. Astrid opened the door for me, and then followed me inside, Toothless slinking in behind her. I went over to the fireplace and stoked the fire, hoping it would melt my clothes, and then dry them. I didn't have any clothes to change into here, and I wasn't about to walk all the way back to my house just to get some. My prosthetic leg was icy also, and was extremely cold against the where it connected with the remainder of my leg. Sitting down on a stool, I reached down and unstrapped the straps connecting the prosthetic to my leg, sighing when it came off. Toothless weaved his nose over to me and gently nose my bad leg, knowing I only took off the prosthetic when it hurt.

"It's okay, buddy. It's just cold." I said, rubbing his nose. Astrid brought another stool and sat down next to me.

"So Hiccup, what's wrong? Is it something to do with the raids?"

"Yeah." I answered shortly. Astrid was the only one who I'd told about my dislike for the raids to. Or at least she was the only one who seemed to listen. I'd given up telling my dad, Gobber didn't seem to listen, and everyone else just ignored me, and went on talking about me.

"Hiccup, if you don't like going, just tell your dad. He'll understand, won't he?"

"No." I grumbled, rubbing the stump of my leg. "He's not really a listening kind of guy. Or a talking kind. He's actually more of a yelling kind. Besides, if I go, less people will die." I finished, voicing the real reason that kept me going. I laughed, thinking about how the opposite would have been true only a few months ago. "Yeah, a lot has changed.

"But, anyway, it's not really the raids I mind; it's just the amount of them."

"I heard there was another one tonight." Astrid looked at me, probably trying to read my expressions. I'm a terrible liar, but recently it seems I've been lying more and more. Especially to my dad.

"Yeah, well."

"Hiccup, that's the second one this week!"

"Yes Astrid, trust me, I know."

"I don't understand, why they can't just get someone else to fly in with their dragon. You know, give you and Toothless a break."

"Because I'm the best fliar." I wasn't really bragging, it was the truth. "Besides, Toothless is a Night Fury, the most feared of all dragons. I suppose my dad doesn't want to take any chances with not being scary enough."

Astrid still looked annoyed, which actually made my heart skip a beat; she was annoyed for me! Just the thought lifted my spirits. I almost smiled, and Toothless, sensing my change in demeanor, sat back on his haunches and smiled his 'toothless' smile (he actually retracts his teeth when he smiles). Astrid now looked at us both, a confused expression on her face.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing." I answered, smiling now too.

"Okaaay, you're a little weird sometimes."

We sat like that for a while, me and Toothless smiling at her, while Astrid looked annoyed again, this time at us. After I was feeling sufficiently defrosted, I strapped my prosthetic leg back on, wincing as it came in contact with the soft skin, and stood up, heading over to my work table.

"I should probably get to work." I told Astrid, already looking at Gobber's "notes" on the table. They were really just crude pictures, for Gobber's not really all that great at writing.  
>"Yeah, okay. Well, I'll see you tonight then."<p>

"See you." I watched her head out the door, then set to work fixing the strap of a dragons saddle brought in this morning. My leg was hurting more than normal, and I was forced to lean on the tables as I made my way around the shop. A half an hour later, Gobber came bursting in the door, looking a riled up.

"Hey Hiccup, nice ter see yeh workin' already." Not waiting for me to reply, he continued.

"Listen, yer dad wants ter see yeh up at the mead hall; think he wants ter talk abou' the raid tonight! Once yeh finish that saddle, yeh can head on up there, a'right?"

"Yeah, sure." I said, wincing at the thought of the long walk back to the mead hall. My clothes weren't entirely dry yet, and my leg was still sore from the walk here. Another half hour later found me leaning somewhat on Toothless as we walked back towards the mead hall to discuss battle strategies with my father. Yes, a lot has changed.

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><p><strong>So there you go! My first chapter ever! Hope it wasn't too short. I don't know whether the others will be this long, guess it depends on how much time I want to take to write them. Reveiw and let me know how I did!<strong>

**Cuio vae, Na lû ir a-goveninc,**

**Alex**


	2. Fire of the Night

**Hello again! I just want to thank everybody for their reviews; they are really challenging me! Please, keep them coming! I can handle the flames, so burn away! I just want to point out though, that because this is my first fanfic, it's kinda an experiment, so it's not going to be extremely well done. I seem to have chosen a rather difficult story to tell, so bear with me! :) **

**Also, the following chapter may seem kinda rushed, but that is the intention. I want to make it clear that Hiccup is, in fact, unhappy with the raids, but is doing them in the mind-set that he is saving lives. YES, there is the possibility he is being fed lies! He has a lot of doubts about this whole ordeal, and they are adressed copiously in the following chapter. This is one of the last really emotional chapters for awhile, so bear with me as I sort this whole thing out!**

**Also, you will here from Toothless for the first time, though not from first person like Hiccup. **

**I want to thank you again for the reveiws, and encourage you to submit more about how you think I am doing. Good or bad! All your reveiws really help me sort out this whole mess! Thank you so much again! Well, you're probably extremely bored with my rambling, so, without further ado, enjoy!**

**P.s. I actually am a funny person, don't let this fool you! ;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon (hahaha, i wish)**

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><p><strong>The Pride of Your Power<strong>

**Chapter 2: Fire of the Night**

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><p>I stood nervously next to Toothless, fidgeting uncomfortably as my dad delivered his "speech" to the amassed Vikings. It was the same everytime, and really wasn't much of a speech as my dad isn't really the talking kind. He mostly just said "charge in, take stuff, charge out". Really inspiring, I know. Toothless and I stood in the back, behind all the blood thirsty, battle hungry Vikings. My dad had already talked to me about the raid, and it wasn't the most encouraging news. Apparently my dad wanted to make a really big entrance for no apparent reason except to show off. So now, instead of just flying in, Toothless growling, roaring, fire-balling, and generally causing mayhem, we now had to be "born of the fire" as my dad said, and make a dramatic entrance.<p>

I looked over the water at the nearly-set sun casting long rays of light over the sea. The sea we would soon be crossing to raid and plunder innocent people. No, not innocent. My dad said they would fight us if we didn't fight them. I was saving our tribe by doing this. Yet, for some reason this never seemed right to me. Would they really attack us if we didn't attack them first? Were Vikings really like this? I reached up and scratched Toothless underneath his chin. This was something I had to do. Finally, people looked to me for help, and I wasn't about of refuse their request. I was going to make my dad proud! I was no longer Hiccup the Useless, I was Hiccup the dragon rider! I would do whatever it took to keep that title. Toothless looked down at me worriedly and I smiled back up at him reassuringly.

"I'm alright, buddy, just nervous, that's all."

"And you'd be crazy not to be!"

"Hello Astrid."

"That wasn't a very cheerful hello."

"Yeah, well, in case you haven't noticed we're about to go attack people and stuff. I'm getting in my battle mode."

Astrid just smiled at me, blowing her long, blonde bangs out of her face.

"Are you laughing at me?"

"Yep." I guess I still looked rather down, for she put her hand on my shoulder. "It'll be okay, Hiccup. You'll do fine."

"Yeah, okay." Unconsciously, I reached down and rubbed my bad leg at where it met with the metal of the prosthetic. It had been hurting all day, and it was still sore now.

"Does your leg hurt?" Astrid asked, watching me.

"What? Oh, um, yeah. It's just a little sore, but it'll be okay." I tried to smile at her, and saw Toothless do the same. She looked like she was going to say more, but just then my dad shouted something and everyone cheered and began boarding the boats docked in the harbor. Most of the villagers were going, save a few of the woman and really young children, so the boats looked pretty packed, which made me glad I was riding Toothless there. Some of the other better trained dragons were going also, but not many as they got rather hard to control in battle.

"Well, good luck Hiccup!" Astrid called as she followed the flow of people cramming into the boats.

"Thanks, you too!" Once most of the people were on the boats I turned to Toothless and double checked that his flying gear was on properly. Once I was sure it was, I climbed onto his back, hooking my prosthetic leg into the stirrup, securing it with the straps to insure it didn't slip loose. I twisted it a couple times to check that Toothless' prosthetic tailfin was working. I winced as the motion sent twinges of pain up the remainder of leg. Toothless looked back worriedly, trying to sniff my bad leg in concern.

"It's okay, Toothless. Just a little sore." Clicking my foot into the take-off position, I called to Toothless: "Okay, Buddy, let's go!"

As Toothless leapt off the ground, I almost shouted out loud in joy. I may not be much on the ground, but in the air, I finally felt at home. The sea breeze tousled my hair and sent excited chills down my spine. Toothless opened his mouth and let out a roar, probably startling few people on board the ships. I laughed out loud, feeling like I could face anything this world could throw at me. Clicking my foot into the proper position, Toothless banked and flew off after the lead ship which had just left the harbor. The air tasted salty, but it was refreshing on my skin. It was a little chilly up here, but Toothless radiated heat and I didn't think I'd have to worry about the temperature. I glanced back and saw the other dragons and their riders following me.

"Alright, Toothless, let's show them how to really fly!"

And with that I clicked into the down position and Toothless dove down sharply, tucking his wings in tight against his body. I leaned down close to his neck, a death grip on the saddle, my eyes beginning to sting and tear up. In didn't pull up, though, only clicked my foot into the right position causing Toothless to begin spiraling as he continued his downward ascent. I have to admit, even though I'd done this at least twice before, I still felt fear slowly and cautiously rise in my throat. I swallowed, trying get rid of it; this was unbelievable and I wasn't going to let fear get in the way. If only my dad could be proud of me because of this, something I enjoyed, rather than what he wanted me to do.  
>When we were less than twenty feet away from the water, I clicked into the up position and Toothless spread out his wings to their full extent. The wings caught air immediately, and next thing I knew, we were gliding barely a foot above the water. I heard yelling and clapping from behind me as the other dragon riders and people on the boats cheered. I smiled, hoping my dad was watching. Toothless drew up beside the lead boat, flapping his wings to keep level with the deck. Astrid smiled at us, and I waved to her, Toothless trying to imitate me with his right foreleg. She laughed and I smiled back.<p>

"Hiccup, stay behind us!" My dad yelled from across the deck. "We don't want them to see you before the fight starts."

"Okay Dad." Clicking into the up position, I held on tight as Toothless angled up, his wings tilted to push the air down as he fought to gain altitude. Once we were far above the boats, Toothless angled towards the left and we fell back behind the rest of the fleet. The sun was nearly completely set; we would be under the cover of night once we reached the island. I had no idea what it was called, nor did I really care. I had no desire to know anything about the people to whom I would soon be responsible for destroying their home.

"Oh Toothless, why are we doing this?" I knew the answer, or at least the answer my dad would give: "You're saving a lot of people, Hiccup, both from our tribe and those we are attacking. I'm proud of you, son." For some reason, that answer never seemed to satisfy the deep unrest in me. I leaned down on Toothless' neck, waiting for the journey to be over so I could get the job done with. When finally the island came into sight, We flew down one last time to my father's boat. Toothless glided alongside the boat, trying to keep level with the ever moving vessel. My dad came over, waving his war axe in the air and carrying something I his arms.

"Hiccup, you forgot this!" Lifting the object in his arm so I could see it was my helmet, the matching one on my dad's head. It came from my mother's breastplate apparently, which makes it more than a little awkward to wear on one's head, but that wasn't the reason I'd forgotten it. I guess I'd left it in the rush. Reaching over, I took it from my dad's outstretched arm. I put it on my head, marveling again at how well it fit. That sounded a little weird considering the context...

"Thanks Dad."

"She'd be real proud of you son." He smiled at me, not knowing how guilty his comment made feel. Would she be proud of me? I hoped so.

"Alrigh Hiccup, yeh should be gettin goin. I'll see yeh after this is over, alrigh? Good luck!"

Toothless banked left and after he'd gained considerable altitude, he slowed his wings and floated there on the warm air currents. Now we waited for the signal. Night had completely fallen by the time the boats docked on the shore. The village, from up here, looked no bigger than Berk and it seemed all its inhabitants we're asleep, or pretending to be. No fires burned throughout the entire village and I couldn't help wondering why. You'd think some warning would have gone out to the other islands surrounding Berk that there were plundering, pillaging, Night Fury riding Vikings roaming the seas. I guess our reputation doesn't precede us-yet.

The Vikings all piled off the boats, trying, but frankly failing, at being quiet. I even thought I could hear Ruffnut and Tuffnut arguing about who should get off first. Once all the Vikings were off, I saw a figure, somewhat larger than the rest, giving orders, and next thing you knew, the streets were alive with Vikings. A warning cry went up from one of the houses closest to the shore, and defenders rushed out, armed with, well, I couldn't see from here.

I clicked my foot into the right position, awaiting the signal. A flash of a sword reflecting the moon shone up towards me and Toothless. Without needing any cues, Toothless dove towards the village, flying directly towards a bonfire that had recently sprung to life near the docks. He flew directly into the smoke emanating from it, attempting to hide himself in it, as my dad had prompted. I began coughing violently as we hit the heavy cloud and had trouble steering Toothless. Through heavily watering eyes I saw Toothless around twist his neck around to look at me with concern.

"I'm alright, Buddy." I managed to hack out. We didn't have to stay in this cloud long, just until Gobber gave the signal. Yeah, a lot of signals, I know. Just goes to show my dad did not make this plan up. He's way too impatient to wait around for signals. He's more of a 'charge recklessly, heedless of anything' type of guy.

"Hiccup!" I heard Gobber shout. "Yer up! Head for the mead hall! Burn it down!"

I was coughing too much reply, so I simply clicked my foot into position and Toothless shot out from the cloud of smoke, shooting fireballs and roaring impressively. Just as we'd passed out of the smoke cloud the fire had been stoke so that it shot up into the air, giving the allusion that we'd sprang from the flames, or something fantastical like that. The people below screamed in terror as we came tearing through the village, setting houses aflame left and right. The other dragons and their riders followed in our wake, having been waiting behind the boats for us to make the first move.

Unlike when I'd been flying before, above the sea, this was not enjoyable in the least. The air was hot and my hair stuck to my forehead in a most uncomfortable way. I was covered in ashes and was still coughing violently for all the smoke I'd inhaled. The air smelled like smoke too, and below I heard the screams of terrified people, mixed with those of excited Vikings driving them out of their homes. I hoped Toothless would scare them away so the Vikings wouldn't actually have to hurt them. My leg hurt as I clicked the stirrup from one position to another as Toothless weaved his way through the crowded streets. I kept inhaling ashes, causing me to cough even more violently, and Toothless kept whining worriedly. I wondered how he felt about all this, if he even understood what was going on.  
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Toothless sucked in his breath, preparing to release another fireball. He could feel exhaustion already creeping over his limbs; fireballs took a lot out of him. He knew they were supposed to be heading for the big building ahead, but he felt Hiccup turning him slightly to the left. He didn't want Toothless to shoot the big building which undoubtedly had many little humans in it. He wanted Toothless to fire to the side, and save the building. He fired, missing the big building, only hitting the ground behind it. He felt Hiccup on his back clicking his little metal leg in the saddle, causing him to turn away from the scene, and head back towards the sea. Toothless really wanted to land, not just for himself, but for the small human on his back who hadn't stopped coughing since they'd flown into the fire-cloud. But he felt his prosthetic tail-fin turn again, and they were once again heading back into the burning village.

Toothless could almost feel Hiccup's eyes searching the chaos below, probably looking for his flock-leader-father. Toothless hoped they were almost done attacking the Hiccup-attacker's village. He was tired and Hiccup was hurting. Toothless also knew Hiccup didn't enjoy these attacks, and though Toothless didn't care either way, he didn't like it when Hiccup was unhappy. Toothless knew that they attacked these people to save themselves, or at least that's what Toothless thought. Why else would they? That's what dragons did, after all. Or what they used to do*.

Toothless felt Hiccup click his little metal leg in the saddle, and Toothless felt himself tilting towards the ground; Hiccup must have seen his flock-leader-father. Toothless landed, tucking his wings in and shaking ash out of his face. He looked back and watched as Hiccup unhooked his metal leg from the saddle, jumping down and attempting to land on his good leg. Toothless saw him suck in his breath as he hit the ground. Whining softly, Toothless nudged Hiccup with his nose, asking if he was okay. He said something in response, using the sound he always used when talking to Toothless. Toothless assumed he meant he was okay, but he was a terrible liar.

Just then Toothless saw Hiccups flock-leader-father come running over, the funny curve in his mouth that Toothless tried so hard to imitate. He grabbed Hiccup in his arms, speaking to him in a praising tone, but causing him to cough violently again. His flock-leader-father asked him something in a worried tone and Toothless hoped he would take care of Hiccup. But Hiccup responded with his usual sound whenever someone asked him how he was. Toothless could see that his flock-leader-father believed him, much to Toothless' anger. The other humans might believe Hiccups lies, but Toothless was smarter than that.  
>Hiccup's flock-leader-father hit him on the shoulder, his mouth still in its weird curve. Toothless stuck out his head to catch Hiccup as he stumbled from his father's hit. Then his flock-leader-father went off with the missing-limb-Hiccup-master back towards the wreckage of the village. Hiccup wearily leaned against Toothless, breathing out heavily as he did when he was tired or annoyed.<p>

Toothless lay down, letting Hiccup lean against him. Hiccup spoke again, this time it he made a sound that Toothless knew stood for the big building Toothless was supposed to hit. Hiccup was probably worried that his flock-leader-father would get mad at him for not hitting the building. Toothless looked around and saw the blonde-girl-Hiccup-friend running over. Her face was covered in soot and ash, but she seemed pretty happy, her mouth also in the funny curve. She and Hiccup communicated with each other, Toothless unsure what they were talking about, but pretty soon Hiccup's mouth had a funny curve in it too. Toothless, seeing that his rider was happy, imitated Hiccup's expression, garnering a laugh from both Hiccup and his blonde-girl-friend.

()"()"()"()"()"()"()"()"()"()"()"()"()"

I was glad when Astrid came over. I really wanted to know how the "battle" went; I hoped it didn't last very long. I'd landed after I'd felt Toothless had instilled enough fear into the people. I was also glad my dad hadn't noticed how I'd avoided having Toothless shoot the mead hall. With all the people inside I wasn't about to burn it down with them all inside. For some reason, I didn't think my dad would have seen my reasoning. When Astrid came running up, she was smiling, though covered in soot and ashes from the still burning fire in the village.

"Astrid! Is it over? Are we done?" I asked, jumping up, but immediately started coughing.

"Yeah, mostly. All the villagers are being rounded up right now. You and Toothless did a good job."

"Did many, um, die?"

"No, I don't think so. The fires didn't really reach many houses."

"Good." I couldn't help smiling; though I knew my dad might be mad at me later, I was glad Toothless hadn't hit any houses. "So, when are we leaving?"

"Oh, you know, whenever they feel like they've had enough." She replied, pointing at the Vikings that were now tearing through the village, coming out of houses laden with all sorts of things- half that seemed rather worthless.

"Ugh. I don't really want to wait around here all night. My warrior spirit needs a rest."

"I'm sure your dad won't miss you."

I wasn't so sure about that, but I was really ready to go home. "Alright, come on Toothless, you heard Astrid, it's time to go." Toothless got up, stretched, then crouched down and waited for me to get on his back. I looked back at Astrid, who seemed to have no desire to join the rest of the Vikings. "Come on, Astrid, Toothless won't mind carrying two."

"No, it's okay. I should probably go join the rest." She shifted slightly and I knew she really did want to go home too. It occurred to me for the first time that maybe she didn't enjoy these raids either. Maybe I wasn't the only one after all.

"They won't miss you." I told her, hoping she didn't take that the wrong way. As it turned out, she did. Marching over to me she glared at me, her hands on her hips.

"They won't miss me, will they not? Just because you are no help whatsoever when it comes to this, doesn't mean I'm not!"

"Hey, I'm the brave and fearless warrior who led this attack!" I answered, struggling not to smile.

Astrid snorted. "Whatever." And she shoved me towards Toothless, climbing on after me. I strapped my prosthetic leg into place, and then clicked into the take-off position as Toothless leapt into the air, Astrid hanging onto my chest tightly. A little too tightly.

"Um, Astrid," I choked, "No need to suffocate me."

"Oh, sorry." But she didn't really loosen her grip.

We flew up high above the smoke and ashes, into the clear night air, above even the clouds till only the stars were higher than us. The clear air helped clear my lungs, and I finally was able to breathe without coughing. Toothless floated on the warm air currents, drifting back and forth, making feel almost like we were riding a boat across the sky. The moon shone down brightly, halfway through its monthly cycle. The stars were the brightest I'd ever seen them, twinkling like millions of, um, diamonds or something. I took in a deep breath of air, almost tasting the night on my tongue as Toothless lazily barrel-rolled, causing Astrid to scream. I just laughed at her, which probably wasn't the wisest as she punched me in the shoulder, now causing me to scream in a little less than manly way.

Now it was Astrid's turn to laugh. "The brave and fearless warrior."

"Whatever."

We flew in silence for a while, and I had a feeling we weren't really heading home in all that direct of a path. Not that I was complaining. I needed some time to clear my head. The raids were really starting to bother me, especially after seeing with what zeal the Vikings from my clan plundered the houses after the fight. It seemed a little overboard to me. Yes, we attacked to avoid getting attacked, but why couldn't we just leave it at that. My dad said we were simply pounding the point home or something like, but…. Why did I keep listening to my dad anyway? Especially after what he said about the dragons…. I wanted to make him proud, and this was the only way it seemed I could. I sighed, confused.

I guess Astrid felt me sigh, for she said: "Hiccup, is something wrong?"

"Oh, um, well, I'm just thinking about the raid I guess."

"You don't feel any better about it, do you?"

"No. Astrid, it just seems wrong! It's just like with the dragons. We fought them so they wouldn't hurt us, but they turned out to be, well"- I gestured down at Toothless, still lazily floating along.

"Maybe you should talk to your dad about it."

I snorted. "Yeah, and maybe Toothless should become a vegetarian."

"Hiccup, if you're not going to do anything about, then why are you stressing out about it?"

"I don't know." I leaned forward onto Toothless' neck. "Why does everything have to be so hard? I mean, I just got over being Hiccup the Useless, and now that people need me, I don't want to do what they want of me. Aaagh!" I collapsed forward, my arms dangling over Toothless' sides.

"Woah!" Astrid yelled, falling forward onto me. "Watch it, there!" I let her pull me up again- yes I like to pretend I have a choice. "Why don't you just ask your dad to give it a rest. Take some time off or something."

"Yeah, maybe." I still wasn't convinced, but I didn't want to bother Astrid with my problems.

"Hiccup, I really think you should do this. Your dad should listen to you! You were right about the dragons, you're probably right about this too!"

"Yeah, maybe."

"Why can't you say anything else! Come on Hiccup! Do it, or I'll make you!"

"Fine, I'll think about it."

"No, no thinking."

"Astrid, I'm really good at thinking though." Astrid only glared at me. "Fine, I'll talk to him."

"Good."

Then, way off in the distance I heard a strange sort of keening sound, almost like mourning, only much louder and I had a feeling it didn't come from a human's mouth. Toothless' ears pricked up and he swiveled his head, looking for the source of the sound. Then he lifted his head and answered the call with one of his own, long and low, kind of like a wolf's howl. The first cry sounded again, though farther off, and it sounded like a farewell. Toothless answered with one of the like, then let his head fall, and continued drifting across the heavens. I looked back at Astrid and saw that she had a look of awe on her face.

"What was that?" She asked.

"I don't know. It sounded like another dragon." Call me stupid, but I'd never really entertained the possibility of there being other dragons, besides the ones on Berk. The idea was kind of startling.

"Do you think there's another island somewhere, where dragons live, maybe wild?" Astrid asked, still in awe.

"Maybe." Another island, with wild dragons. Maybe that's where Toothless and the dragons from Berk used to live, before the Red Death ensnared them. Once again, this thought was rather unsettling.

We continued drifting along in the stars; we were up there for so long, I almost forgot my problems—almost. A lot had changed in the past few months. Maybe my dad would listen to me this time. I thought about that until finally I clicked my foot in the stirrup and we began our downward ascent, towards Berk and towards home.

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><p><strong>Well, there ya go. Hope you enjoyed, and review! (working on how to spell that word). I hope you like Toothless' part. I'm not sure how much he understands of human talk, but since humans don't understand much of dragon talk, he probably doesn't understand much of their talk. Tell me what you think about this idea. Also, I hope Astrid and Hiccup were IC enough during their dialogue. This is an experiment, like I said, so I'm still working on figuring out all the characters! OH, and ANY ideas are appreciated. Can't promise I'll use them, but maybe I will! who knows...<strong>

***Yes, I know the dragons attacked Berk to bring food to the Red Death, but they were doing it to save their lives, so yeah. :)**

**Cuio vae, Na lû ir a-goveninc,**

**Alex**


	3. Of Gronckles and Zipplebacks

**Hey everybody. So, like, I had a great authors note written out, but it got deleted somehow and now i'm really mad. grrrr. Thanks for the reveiws and all who follow my story. It means alot to me.**

**So, yeah. Sorry it's been awhile, but i think this chapter is longer so that should make up for it. *the three people actually reading this shake their heads.* Well, i'll try to update faster i guess. **

**Please reveiw, then i feel more inclined to continue writing. This interests me for now, but i have a relatively short attention span. Reveiwing helps me stay in the "mode" or whatever. BTW, how does one spell review anyway? Can't seem to figure that one out. **

**Well, without much further ado, here is Chapter 3. I did have this great note written out to y'all, but like i said, it now lies in the depths of Moria in Khazad Doom. (LOTR4ever!) Here ya, and enjoy!**

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><p><strong>The Pride of Your Power<strong>

**Chapter 3: Of Gronckles and Zipplebacks**

HTTYD 3

Once everyone had finally returned to Berk (it took a while) there was a lot of feasting, wild behavior and generally lots of destruction. Apparently he island we raided was very rich, which meant that no one is in a hurry to go invade another. For now everyone seemed satisfied, which led me to believe that there were more reasons to attacking the islands than simply safety. But this also meant that I felt no need to talk to my dad about stopping the raids, so I decided I'd wait until they were brought up again.

For me, this atmosphere of content was very welcome. I could finally get back to what I enjoyed: dragons. Whenever anyone in the village had a problem with their dragons they came to me. Sounds like a lot of pressure, right? Especially since I was just complaining about being always needed by people. Well, this was different. This, I enjoyed doing. Dragons were my thing.

On this particular day I was busy with a grumpy Zippleback whose two heads couldn't seem to agree. I was trying to get them both to eat a fish, but one head wouldn't let the other eat the fish. I'd been spending most of the time dodging blasts of gas and sparks and hadn't really made much progress. Toothless stood by watching, growling at the other dragon, and demonstrating how to eat the fish (he enjoyed that part). As I ducked behind a boulder, escaping a particularly big blast, I saw a familiar figure waddling over to where I was stationed.

I'd decided go to the edge of the woods, away from the village, which turned out to be a wise idea considering he Zippleback's current attitude. The figure, rather large and possessing rather short legs, reached me, he had to jump behind my boulder to avoid being blasted.

"Woah! That thing is angry! What's wrong with it?"

"Uh, yeah Fishlegs, that's what I'm trying to figure out." I pulled him farther behind the rock as the Zippleback shot yet another blast at us. "Um, not to be rude, but what are you doing here?"

"I was bored and wanted to see what you were doing! Glad I came! This is soooo awesome!"

"Great. Um" -

"Hey, is it attacking itself?"

"What? Oh!" In fact it was, each head trying to fire at the other with either gas or a spark that the other head used to light the gas. It wasn't really that effective of an attack.

"That is sooo cool!"

"No, not really." I slowly edged out from behind the rock, frantically trying to think of a way to break up the two Zippleback heads. Fishlegs kept up a running commentary, something about how many hit points the dragon had, or something like that. He had a strange obsession in dragons, especially in this book that used to be used in training, but is no longer considered accurate, considering the current circumstances.

"Oh, okay, I know what you should do! Tie its heads in a knot, forcing it to get along in order to get free! That's what Gobber does to Ruffnut and Tuffnut when they don't get along, except he doesn't really tie their heads together, cause that would be kinda hard…." Fishlegs drifted off.

"Great, except I don't really think I'd live long enough to even get close enough to tie its heads together."

"Oh, right. Didn't really think of that. Well how about…." I wasn't really listening to the rest of Fishlegs sentence as at that moment the Zippleback noticed me sneaking up to it and its heads managed to get along long enough to shoot another exploding fireball at me. I jumped on Fishlegs, shoving him back behind the rock.

"Wa-wa-wa-wait, Hiccup, I have an idea how to tie its heads up!"

"Fishlegs, this really isn't the time"-

"No, but I think this will work!"

"Unless you want to be the one getting barbecued…."

"Confuse it! It says in the dragon handbook that certain noises confuse it and its heads get entangled!"

"Fishlegs, I really don't think that thing's reliable anymore…." But then I did remember reading that, and- "Fishlegs! That's brilliant!"

"Wha-?"

"Come on, help me make a really confusing noise!" I ran out from behind the rock, almost tripping on a root that had ensnared my prosthetic leg, and desperately looked around for Toothless. While I'd been hiding behind the rock, Toothless had been standing guard over it, growling whenever the Zippleback got to close. As of the moment, the dragon's heads seemed too busy with each other to pay Toothless any attention.

"Toothless!" I yelled, hoping the other dragon didn't notice me again. "Toothless, I need your help." Toothless bounded over, tilting his head as I explained to him what I needed him to do. "Fishlegs, I need your help too!"

"Oh, uh, okay!" I waited till Fishlegs had waddled over, and then explained to him my plan.

"Do you think that will work?" He asked.

"Trust me, when I do this at home, my dad looks like a Zippleback with its heads ensnared." I dragged Fishlegs into the forest, frantically looking for an old hollow log.

"Hey Hiccup, did you hear about the gronckle that went missing?" Fishlegs asked, and I sighed as I waited for the continuous stream of one-sided conversation to begin, not really paying any attention to what he was saying.

"Uh, no. Fishlegs, do you see any logs? Toothless, try to stick your nose down this one."

"Yeah, it went missing yesterday. Apparently its rider left it out sleeping in the sun on the edge of the forest, probably near here somewhere actually…."

"That's great, Fishlegs, but can we focus? Logs, we need to find a log."

"Oh, right." Fishlegs began scanning the area, but his mouth just continued moving. "But they haven't found the Gronckle yet, and I would really hate it if my dragon went missing. I hope it's not a trend or something. That would stink. What if Toothless went missing?"

"Toothless wouldn't do that." I replied apsentmindely, not really following the conversation. "Okay, I found one! Fishlegs, Toothless, help me roll it over near the Zippleback." I put my back to the log, trying to roll it down the slight incline to where the Zippleback's heads continued trying to blast each other. It seemed they'd managed to create an explosion between themselves, but it was less than effective when it came to damage. Fishlegs came over, lending himself to the task of rolling the log. It was slow business, as the log had been on the forest floor for a while, and seemed to have grown quite "attached" to it. Toothless stood by, watching us sweat, an almost amused expression on his face.

"Toothless, help would be appreciated." I winced as my bad leg twinged in pain, protesting the overexertion. Toothless crawled over, cautiously put his nose to the log and gave a testing push. I rolled a couple inches. Hunching down, Toothless sprang forward, shoving the log with him, sending it rolling down the incline. It also caused me and Fishlegs, who'd been leaning our weight on the log, to sit down hard on the frozen ground.

"Ouch! Toothless, a little warning next time wouldn't hurt." Toothless came bounding back, a pleased expression on his face. I got up, brushing my pants off and winced again as I put pressure on the prosthetic attached to my bad leg. It didn't seem happy with all this heavy work. Toothless sniffed my leg worriedly and I patted his nose.

"I'm alright, buddy. Let's go get that log, though, before it rolls away." We all hurried down to where the log had stopped its downward descent, just out of reach of the Zippleback's current battle field. "Alright Toothless, get ready." Toothless stuck his nose into one end of the hollow log and waited as Fishlegs and I positioned the flat piece of wood over the other. "Ready Toothless, okay, go!"

The resulting effect was, well, effective. Toothless blew air out through his mouth, in between his loosely closed lips, producing a sound similar to that of a rather rude body function happening from the rear end. While he was doing this, Fishlegs and I were moving the flat piece of wood on and off of the hole at the other end of the log. The resulting sound was something similar to what I'd imagine a dying duck would sound like.

The Zippleback, upon hearing the noise, instantly froze up, one head in the process of shooting the other, and proceeded to very confused, ending up with both its heads wrapped around each other in a complex series of knots. Fishlegs got up and clapped, confusing it even more to the point where it ended up on the ground, its two heads staring at each other bewildered.

"Good thinking, Fishlegs!" I cheered and Toothless cooed in agreement.

"Ha ha ha, thanks. Now I just wish I could think of a way to find that missing Gronckle."

"I'm sure you wi- wait a minute. What missing Gronckle?" I asked, the Zippleback quickly forgotten.

"The one I was telling you about a minute ago. You know, the one that fell asleep, then when its rider came back, was gone?" Fishlegs looked at me, willing me to remember.

"Oh! That's what you were talking about?" I winced inwardly, mentally scolding myself for not paying better attention. "Sorry, guess I was a little too focused on the Zippleback. How long has it been missing?"

"Oh, since yesterday sometime, I think." Fishlegs answered cautiously.

"Yesterday!" I nearly screamed. "And no one's gone looking for it?"

"Of course they have. They just haven't found it."

"Okaaaay." I said slowly, my brain working in hyper drive. Dragons didn't just go missing, or at least as far as I knew. This was the first I'd heard of it actually. Not that we've had dragons that long, though. What surprised me most was that it hadn't been found yet. There was no reason for it to leave, unless it wasn't happy here…. The thought actually bothered, as I'd never really considered the possibility of dragons not being happy living with humans on Berk. Call me big-headed or ignorant or whatever but it just never crossed my mind. Maybe none of the dragons liked it here at all; maybe they all wanted to leave; maybe they hated us and were just waiting for the right time to kill us….

Then I looked over at Toothless, watching my brooding with concern and I knew that all dragons couldn't hate the people of Berk. Even the now subdued Zippleback I knew to be gentle and kind at some points. No, dragons didn't hate people; I just couldn't believe that, especially after all Toothless had done for. Like when I'd first woke up after the battle with the Red Death and discovered my missing leg. It'd been hard for me to walk for the first couple weeks, and the remainder of my leg was always sore- even the part that was no longer there was sore- but Toothless had walked by my side patiently, catching me when I fell and leaving me deal when I was too stubborn for help. That didn't constitute hate or even dislike in anyone's eyes.

"Um, Hiccup?" Fishlegs stood nervously, shifting from foot to foot.

"Oh, what?" I asked, jolted out of my reverie. "Missing dragon, right. Need to focus Hiccup, focus. What do you do now? Panic? No, no panic. Call for help? No, you're the one who's been called on to help, you need to do something about it. But you don't know anything about it, so you need to find someone who does…."

"Um, Hiccup? What are you doing?" Fishlegs asked, interrupting my self-conversation.

"Talking to myself, what does it look like?"

"Oh, well okay."

"Someone who knows, someone who knows…."

"I know." Fishlegs prodded.

"Yes, I know you know, but I need another witness. Two heads are better than one."

"Yeah, sure…." Fishlegs looked confused now.

"Who else knows, who else…. ASTRID!" I yelled, grabbing Fishlegs by the arm and pulling him towards the village, the tangled Zippleback completely forgotten. "ASTRID! ASTRID! Where are you Astrid?" Heads turned as I came half running, half stumbling into the village, dragging a shaken looking Fishlegs and a bouncing dragon following me.

"Astrid!"

"Hiccup, what's going on?" The very girl I was dying to see walked out of her house, carrying her axe very threatingly. "Hiccup, is something wrong? Are you hurt? Are you being chased?"

"No, no, no, it's nothing like tha-" I stopped, caught off guard by what I saw. Call me blind, but I guess I'd never really looked at Astrid before- or at least not in this way. Her hair was the same: in its braid down her back; her clothes were the same: a mixture of armor and fur; but something was different about her that made me stop and stare. Her eyes, the same shade of blue they always were, stared into my as they sparkled and danced, making my heart skip beats over and over again. Her face seemed to glow, looking older, yet even more beautiful and even the part scowl part confused look she wore was worth a million pounds of gold to me at that moment. Astrid…. I sighed, lost in her enchanting beauty, feeling millions of miles away, yet infinitely close….

"Hiccup."

Those eyes, oh how I wanted to get lost in those eyes….

"Hiccup!"

And that smile, or frown, or something was so intoxicating….

"HICCUP!"

I jolted upright, startled out of my day dream to find Astrid up in my face, her axe poised to part my head from my neck. Suddenly those eyes weren't so dreamy as I saw in them intense heat.

"Oh, uh, mmhmm." I cleared my throat, my face burning as realized I'd been staring at her with probably the dopiest expression that ever crossed or would cross my face. "S-sorry, what were you saying?"

"What were _you_ saying? You came charging over here like your butt was on fire, dragging Fishlegs like a dead, well, fish. No offense, Fishlegs. And then you stopped and got all…. Swoony. "

"Oh, ha ha ha, right, sorry about that, it was just the heat of the day, you know, getting to me." I apologized lamely. I've never really been the best liar, and trying to lie to Astrid, well, I tried to avoid it all costs.

"Hiccup, it's about to snow, there is no 'heat' in this day."

"Um…."

"_What_ do you want, Hiccup?"

"Dragon." I heard Fishlegs whisper from behind me. That finally got my attention back to where it belonged-for the moment.

"Yes! The dragon!"

"You mean the one that went missing?" Astrid asked, obviously a couple hundred steps ahead of me.

"Yeah, that dragon."

"Look Hiccup," She said seeming to already know where I was going with this. "People have been looking for it, but it hasn't been found. What if it just flew away?"

"Why would it want to fly away?" I asked, though I thought I already knew her answer. "Astrid, dragons _do_ like it here. And if they didn't, they would have left long before this, don't you think?"

"So, you want to go looking for it?" She asked, raising her eyebrows. "You made quite a lot of commotion for only wanting to go look for a dragon."

I felt my face get hot again, but hoped Astrid would think it was only the cold air; it had started getting a rather cold wind from the north, probably signaling snow. I groaned inwardly at the thought: I hadn't yet tried walking in the snow with my prosthetic leg, and I knew it would probably prove a difficulty.

"Well, if you do want to go looking for the dragon, what makes you think you'll be able to find it when no other Viking can?" Astrid asked.

"The other Vikings can't track dragons." I answered, trying to sound sure of myself.

"And you can?"

"I can learn, and if I can't, then I'm sure Toothless can."

"Alright, but I'm still not sure why this is such a big deal. Why do you need my help anyway?"

"When has a dragon gone missing on Berk?" I didn't wait for an answer. "Never. And I need your help cause you seem to know about it. Come on, we should start at the scene of the, uh, disappearance." I said, unsure what to call it.

"Alright," Astrid said, coming fully out of her house and beginning to walk back up the way Fishlegs and I'd come from. "The Gronckle was last seen at the edge of the forest, where his rider left him sleeping in the sun. It's over this way, I think."

Fishlegs and I followed her as she led us back through the village to almost the same place me and Fishlegs had been dealing with the cranky Zippleback. I could see it in the distance, still struggling to undo its heads, but at least it was working together now. Astrid glanced back at me at the sight of the entangled dragon, a questioning look on her face.

"I have a feeling that was your doing?" She asked.

"Yep, me and Toothless and Fishlegs."

We reached a spot right on the edge of the trees and I could see a patch of leaves that looked like it had been laid on by something heavy and lumpy. Toothless sniffed the spot curiously, looking from Astrid to me.

"So, I'm guessing this is where the Gronckle was then, huh?" I asked, kneeling down and examining the depression more closely. There weren't any signs of struggle, so it didn't seem as if the Gronckle had been taken by anything. I moved over towards the edge of the depression nearest the forest and noticed what could have been, with a bit of a stretch, Gronckle tracks leading into the trees.

"Toothless, come look at these." I called to my dragon, who was still sniffing the indention. Toothless crawled cautiously over, looking intently at the spots I was pointing to.

"Hiccup, I don't think those are anything." Astrid said, looking at where I was pointing Toothless towards. "Just some dents in the leaves and grass."

But Toothless proved her wrong as he looked up at me and moved his head from the large indention to the small ones, willing me to understand the connection. I looked at Astrid, who just shrugged.

"Fine," she said. "Now where do they lead?"

"Okay buddy," I told Toothless. "Can you find out where these tracks go?"

He nodded, and then smiled at us, starting off into the forest, carefully scanning the forest floor for more Gronckle prints. Astrid, and Fishlegs, and I followed behind him, careful not to get in his way. I'd never really thought about dragons tracking before, but what Toothless was doing was more like human tracking than dog tracking, as Toothless wasn't really sniffing, but looking.

We continued deeper into the forest, the trees mostly bear now that "winter" was here and snow was only a few days off. There weren't many animals out, as most were hibernating, and not many really lived up here anyway. The farther in we got, the more tangled the forest floor became and the more my prosthetic leg got tangled in undergrowth or caught on hidden rocks. It seemed as though the whole floor was covered in traps designed to catch the unfortunate Viking who didn't possess two "real" legs. It also didn't help that my leg was still sore from trying to push the boulder, and now whenever I put weight on it, pain lanced up my side. Astrid could tell I was having trouble, but I was glad she wasn't trying to help me; I needed to be able to do these kinds of things alone. People always tell me I'm stubborn, like my dad, and I guess they're right, though most Vikings seem pretty stubborn in my opinion.

Just when I was beginning to think the Gronckle really had run off, and on his legs too, and when I'd tripped on about the hundredth hidden root, Toothless froze, his ears perked up, listening. I grabbed a tree as I nearly fell on my face, and looked around me as did Astrid and Fishlegs. Astrid with her axe ready in her hand and Fishlegs clutching a book I recognized as the dragon training handbook that I hadn't noticed he'd had until now.

"Toothless, what is it? What do you hear? Is it the Gronckle?"

Toothless glared at me, probably telling me to be quiet, and continued listening. I began to hear it now too, a crashing noise, like someone or something ripping through the forest. Fishlegs squealed and Astrid hit him over the head with the butt of her axe. Her face was that of someone ready to fight- and it looked great on her.

The noise got louder, and now Toothless crouched down in front of us, growling softly as he waited for the threat to make itself known. As the noise grew even louder, Fishlegs screamed and Astrid tackled him, shoving her hand over his mouth.

"Will you shut up!" She growled, her voice low.

Then, the noise stopped. Astrid and I exchanged confused/worried glances as we waited. Just as we thought it had someone miraculously disappeared, the whole forest exploded.

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><p><strong>There ya go! Chapitre trois. (french, FWI). Hope you are enjoying it so far. Please review and tell me how I am doing and also how to spell review! Like i said, i can take Flames, but i just might come out a little black and crispy ;). (I so clever). <strong>

**Oh, and please excuse the Astrid/Hiccup mush. I'm not really a romancy person, like, at all, but since there was some romance in the movie *sigh* I thought i should probably add a little in this, um, thing. At least it's Hiccup romance, though. :D this is a really cool smiley face BTW, and i tip my hat to whoever invented those thingys! *tips non-existent hat*. **

**Well, that's all for now. **

**Cuio vae, na lu ir a-goveninc,**

**Alex**


	4. Trail of Blood

**Hey everybody,**

**So, like i just found out that the chapter i uploaded last night didn't go up, so i'm trying again, and i really hope it works! Does anyone know why it wouldn't have uploaded last night? It said it was uploaded when i went to manage stories, but on the site, it wasn't there.**

**so, yeah, that's my dilenma. (something like that... dilemna?) But anyway, i hope you enjoy chapter 4! There's a little Astrid here and a little Toothless again. Not much, mind you, but a little. It gets a little more emotional/dramatic/life-threatening (?) in this chapter****. Please review! You will make me happy! Thank you to all who have also! Especially in caverns dark for the review on both chapters! **

**Well, without further ado, here is chapter 4.**

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><p><strong>The Pride of Your Power<strong>

**Chapter 4: Trail of Blood**

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><p>Well, exploded in noise, that is. It was not necessarily the noise of a blood thirsty dragon-hunter-killer either. Not that it wasn't a threatening noise- it was, at least to our mission.<p>

"You lost it!"

"I did not! You lost it!"

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

Ruffnut and Tuffnut. What they were doing this far into the forest, I had no idea, but whatever it was, it couldn't be going too well, considering they were alone and with each other. Yeah, doesn't make much sense to me either, but if you knew Ruff and Tuff like I do, you'd know what I mean. I heard Fishlegs let out a lot of breath that it seemed he'd been holding, and Astrid relaxed her hold on her axe, still keeping it at hand though- it _was_ Ruffnut and Tuffnut after all. We watched as they came into view, coming out from behind a large boulder. They both had leaves and branches stuck in their long blonde hair and numerous rips in their clothes, giving them the appearance of slightly wild, um, Vikings? Yeah, I'll go with Vikings, it's better than the other options.

They didn't seem to notice us, still caught up in their argument; they didn't even seem to see Toothless who was no longer growling menacingly, but sitting back on his haunches watching them. They were heading towards us, which I didn't think was a good sign considering our mission called for careful observation, the observation on Toothless' part, and ability to not trample everything in sight- that was our part. When they got close Astrid finally made our presence known in a way only Astrid can.

"Ruff, Tuff,_ what_ are you two doing here?" She exclaimed, jumping out in front of them, her axe still poised.

"Woah, Astrid, didn't think we'd see you out here." Ruffnut said, shoving her brother to the side as he tried to punch her.

"Yeah, well we didn't really think you'd be out here either." I told her, picking my out from behind Toothless. "And if we did, we probably wouldn't come and search you out." I added under my breath.

"Are you looking for the lost Gronckle too?" Fishlegs asked eagerly, joining us.

"Uh, no. Why would we go looking for someone else's dragon?" Tuffnut asked.

"Oh I don't know, you wanted to be nice." I answered, almost inaudibly.

"We came looking for our dragon, _duh_." Ruffnut looked at us like we were stupid.

"Your dragon went missing too?" Astrid asked, sounding intrigued. Ruffnut and Tuffnut both flew a Zippleback, the same one actually, both riding on one of its necks. It was rather fitting, I felt.

"Yeah, this morning. We were riding him over the sea, practicing so maybe we could take him on the next raid, and then we left out by the docks and _someone_ forgot to check on him after lunch!" Ruffnut glared at her brother, hands on her hips. I could tell they'd already been over this, and I winced inwardly at the reminder of the raids. Just what I needed to brighten my day.

"It was not my job to check on him!"

"Was to!"

"Was not!"

"Was to!"

"Was not!"

"So, have you been tracking him then?" Astrid asked, putting her axe back in its strap across her back. I could never carry an axe that way- I'd end up tumbling over backwards whenever I tried walking up a hill.

"Uh, no. Why would we track him?" Ruffnut asked, like it was the most obvious question in the world. "We've been wondered around calling his name, duh."

"Any luck?" I asked sarcastically.

"Um… no." Tuffnut sighed, his shoulders slumping.

I sat down on a nearby boulder, resting my head on my hand as the others continued to talk. Toothless worriedly came over and nosed my shoulder questioningly. I reached up and rubbed his neck, thinking about what had just been brought to light. The Gronckle may have been the first, but wasn't the last dragon to go missing. I wish I'd talked to the Gronckle's rider about the disappearance before I went charging off into the unknown. I guess that's what happens when you hang out with Astrid- you tend to do a lot of charging off. I thought back to what Fishlegs had said to me when I'd only been half listening. Something about hoping this dragon disappearance wasn't a trend. So far, it was showing signs of becoming one.

Astrid was still talking, though it had turned into more of yelling, with Ruffnut and Tuffnut, trying to learn more about their dragon's disappearance. I didn't really care how their dragon disappeared past the fact that it was not taken so far as anyone could tell. The only way the dragons could have been captured was if someone had got them to come willingly, for even Ruff and Tuff could tell there had been no signs of struggle, and I doubt either dragon would have taken kindly to capture. This, added with the stress of having to talk to my dad about the raids, was starting to weigh down on my mind.

"Hiccup, come on, Ruff and Tuff are going to come with us. Maybe their dragon is where the Gronckle is." Astrid said, taking my arm and pulling me up- a little too violently as I nearly face planted into a tree.

"Okay, great. Ruff and Tuff helping us track a dragon. Great idea." I said, trying not to sound dry. I motioned to Toothless to continue following the tracks and we set off again, in search of a dragon haven where all dragons seem to mysteriously disappear to. Or at least two. The idea wasn't that highly implausible, as maybe there was a really good fishing spot somewhere on the other side of the island, but it still didn't explain how the two missing dragons knew about it in the first place or why they suddenly decided to go there.

We made considerably slower progress now that we had Ruffnut and Tuffnut continually arguing behind us, throwing off Toothless' tracking ability by being exceedingly distracting. And the farther on we went, the colder the air seemed to get and the harder the wind blew, signaling a storm growing from the north. I fervently hoped it would hold off until we got safely back to the village as trekking through the forest was hard enough without a foot of snow to deal with. When it snowed on Berk, it really snowed.

I shivered as a particularly violent blast of wind tore through my clothes, setting my teeth to chattering. This was not going the way I'd hoped. Honestly, I'd thought we'd find the dragon after maybe an hour at most, coax it to come back nicely with us and then be done with it. I didn't count on it being so far into the forest. We'd been out here for almost three hours now and the sun was starting to get low in the sky, signaling the coming of night. My bad leg was steadily hurting more and more and I knew my limp was pronounced as I struggled to keep up with Astrid and Toothless.

Astrid seemed to notice my discomfort and I could tell she wanted to help me, though I tried to show her I was fine, standing straighter and struggling not to favor my good leg. I kind of wished Toothless wasn't so busy tracking, as I could then ride on his back, but I was loath to show weakness in front of so many of my friends. I had kept Toothless' saddle on from a flight we'd taken early that morning and I hoped it didn't bother him. It did assure me though that at least we could make a quick escape into the skies if it came to that. Assuming Toothless could carry five, as I was extremely light myself and he'd only ever carried me and Astrid. Together.

The memory of that first flight made me smile, though my leg was killing, and I could see Astrid was giving me a weird look. It didn't matter though. That was the first night she really saw who I was and didn't completely ignore me like she'd always done. It made me wonder that if I hadn't found Toothless if I'd even be talking to the four people I was now leading through the forest. Well, that Toothless was leading. It felt as I owed everything, even who I was, to Toothless. I would never have killed the Red Death and stopped the dragon raids, or even known about the Red Death, if it hadn't been for Toothless. But then, Toothless owed his life to me.

Only because you threatened it in the first place, I reminded myself. I really was in Toothless' debt, more than I knew. Sure, he might not be able to fly without me, but that was my fault. I'd shot him from the sky, I was the reason he only had half a tail-fin. Was I anything without him? He was the one who'd made me more than Hiccup the Useless. If it hadn't been for him, I'd still be the disappointment of the whole island. Sure, I might have done a lot on my own, but only because I'd met Toothless and seen what dragons were really like. I was who I was because I shot him. Or at least that's how it seemed. Toothless paid a lot for my acceptance, and I felt bad about it. I knew he forgave me, but I'd never before now realized how much I really owed him. Once again I thought to myself: was I anything without him?

Ruffnut and Tuffnut's shouts brought me crashing back to the present. They were a couple paces to the right of us gathered around a tree that looked like it had been recently bulled into. They seemed to be arguing over something on the bark.

"It's blood obviously, nut-head. Look, it's red and wet and gross. Kinda like your shirt!" Ruffnut smeared something on her twin.

"Ew, now you got it on me!"

"Well it doesn't matter since you obviously don't think that it's blood anyway."

"Blood's warm, everyone with half a brain knows that!"

"Yeah, when it's fresh! This isn't fresh idiot!"

Astrid stepped between them before they started to throw punches. Leaning in closely she examined the "blood".

"Hiccup, come over here and look at this." She called to me.

I hobbled over, nearly tripping over a hidden root for about the umpteenth time. "What is it?"

"Look, doesn't this look like-."

"Dragon's blood." I said, finishing her sentence. It was thicker than human's blood, and a darker shade of red, looking almost black in the lengthening shadows.

"Told you it was blood." Ruffnut whispered. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tuffnut try to shove her, then miss.

"Do you think-?" Astrid asked, leaving her question in hanging in the air. Did I think it was from the dragons we were looking for? It most likely was, considering I didn't know of any other dragons living on Berk.

"It's cold." I told her, fingering some of the sticky, rather gross, liquid in my fingers. I recognized it now from when I saw the same blood on Toothless' body after I'd shot him down with the bola cannon. "But the air's gotten colder since we've been out here too, so there's really no telling how long since the dragon was here."

Astrid looked thoughtful. "It's not frozen, though, so it can't have been here that long, can it?"

I shrugged, trying to stop myself from shivering. I hadn't realized how cold it had really gotten until we'd stopped moving. Pulling my fur vest tighter around myself, I beckoned Toothless over.

"Hey bud, do you know how long this blood's been here?" I asked him, pointing to the spot. He crawled closer, sniffing it then surprising me by licking it, which I thought was extremely gross.

"Do you know if it's Gronckle blood or Zippleback blood?" Ruffnut asked a worried look in her eye that I hadn't seen there before.

"Um…." I didn't really know how to tell dragon blood apart, as I'd never really encountered it side by side before. I wasn't really sure if there was a difference.

"Actually, it's probably Zippleback," Fishlegs said nervously, speaking up for the first time since we'd met up with Ruff and Tuff. "It says in the dragon handbook that since Zippleback's create sparks from one of their heads, they have extremely warm blood, as do Night Furies. As compared to Gronckle's that actually have colder blood that probably would have frozen by now."

Ruffnut and Tuffnut exchanged worried glances. I'd never really seen them like this and, as reassuring as it was to know that they cared for their dragon, I wish I hadn't out that fact under these circumstances. Astrid and I looked at each other, both aware of the information that had passed between us: this had just gotten a lot more serious.

Judging by the amount of blood on the tree, it wasn't likely that the Zippleback (assuming Fishlegs was right and it was Zippleback blood) had simply run into the tree and scratched itself. That said, there was little chance anymore that the dragons had simply gotten up and left on their own accord. They'd either been captured or lured into the forest, the Zippleback somehow in the process being injured by its captor. I couldn't think of anyone on the island who'd want to capture dragons, as most Vikings had their own dragons to begin with and Ruff and Tuff's Zippleback wasn't the most desirable dragon, but I had no idea where the person could have come from either. Most other islands still seemed scared of dragons, thanks to Toothless and the raids, so it was kind of hard to imagine them wanting to get close enough to one to capture one. That left very few options.

I looked over at Astrid, who seemed to have been following roughly the same train of thought I'd been, then at Toothless who'd finished examining the blood. He whined, and then looked far off into the forest, which I took to mean that the dragon was far away from this place now. I began to wonder how long this forest actually was. It seemed we'd walked halfway around the world, yet it showed no signs of ending anytime soon.

I limped over to a dead stump of a tree and sat down, massaging the stump of my leg where flesh met metal. I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to carry on like this- my leg hadn't hurt this bad in a long time; not since I first found out about my missing limb. I tried not to think about the fact that always seemed to elude people's minds: however far you go, you're going to have to go double that. That is, if you want to go back to where you came from. Astrid came over and sat by me, and Fishlegs was already sprawled on the ground, leaning against a tree, his large body not used to such strenuous activity. Only Ruffnut and Tuffnut stayed standing; they looked like they wanted to go charging off into the forest after their wounded dragon.

I didn't blame them. If Toothless went missing, I'd be out all day and night searching for him, probably not stopping until he was safe in my bedroom with me. But I knew I wasn't the only one tired, and the coming storm worried me. If we were caught out here in it, we might never find our way back. When covered in snow, everything looked the same and I doubt even Toothless would be able to find his way.

As if by unspoken agreement Astrid and I stood, me using Toothless' nose as support, and got ready to continue on. Fishlegs got wearily to his feet and without a word we followed Toothless' as he picked up the Gronckle's trail, now colliding with the trail of blood leading from the tree.

()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()*

Astrid glanced over at Hiccup, watching as he limped along, trying to hide his obvious discomfort. She noticed his limp had become slowly more pronounced and she saw how he gritted his teeth whenever he put pressure on his bad leg. Toothless now walked beside him, letting Hiccup lean on him, but it slowed Toothless tracking down considerably and Astrid knew the storm was fast approaching. Even with Toothless, Astrid did not want to be stuck out in the middle of the forest during a blizzard.

Yet she had no idea how close they were to finding the dragons. Astrid sped up until she was level with Hiccup, aware that he was watching out of the corner of his eye, probably wondering whether she'd ask if he wanted her help. Astrid knew Hiccup didn't, not in front of Ruff, Tuff and Fishlegs, but seeing him in pain wasn't doing her any good either. She wanted to help as much for him as for herself.

And he wasn't the only one who was tiring. Fishlegs was stumbling almost as much as Hiccup, trying to keep up with the group as the sky slowly got darker and the air, colder. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were the only ones who seemed to have energy left, though even Tuffnut was beginning to drag his feet. This was turning out to be way more than they'd bargained for, yet Astrid didn't know what they could do. She knew that turning back wouldn't be an option for either Hiccup or the twins; not with the dragons wounded, possibly dying.

Seeing Hiccup stumble yet again, Astrid could finally stand it no longer. She grabbed his arm and yanked him over to her, nearly forcing him to lean on her as the continued along. At first Hiccup tried to wrench away, put after tripping yet again, finally conceded and leant on Astrid. Toothless, seeing that Hiccup was okay, turned his head back to tracking, probably knowing that the sooner they found the dragons, the sooner he could take his rider home to safety.

Astrid felt Hiccup's arm shaking under hers, his whole body shivering in the cold. Astrid didn't notice the cold as much, but she was more, well, substantial than Hiccup. He was scrawny and small and the cold penetrated his body much faster than the others. She didn't mention it, knowing it was enough that he'd accepted her help at all, and she didn't want to push it. He was as stubborn, if not more stubborn than his father and it annoyed her sometimes. But sometimes she liked it.

It was a desirable trait in him and she liked him all the more for it, though sometimes she wished that it wasn't so strong a trait. What did she see in the boy anyway? He was anything but big and strong like the other Vikings, and while he was good looking in a boyish way, he wasn't poignantly handsome. He'd always been looked down upon in the village, until the battle with the Red Death, and he hadn't changed much because of that.

But he had. He was so much more than the undersized boy who stared at her across the room during dragon training. Maybe he'd always been like this, but she'd never taken the time to find out. No one really knew him before the he'd become the savior of Berk- no one except maybe Gobber, so maybe he really hadn't changed and he was telling the truth. And maybe that's what she liked about him. He didn't change who he was, even though everyone told him he should. He was always Hiccup and always would be. She liked him as he was, and didn't want him to change. Knowing he didn't have a history of changing himself reassured her he probably wouldn't have a future of it. At least she hoped so.

()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()*()

Toothless stretched his neck, it being sore from bending over the ground looking for tracks. He glanced back as he did so, Hiccup and the blonde-girl-Hiccup's-friend following closely behind him with the Zippleback-like-human-twin's behind and the Fish-leg bringing up the rear. Toothless was worried about Hiccup; he could tell his missing-leg-part was hurting and the cold was getting to him. Toothless was glad dragons weren't affected by the cold and he wished the same was true for humans. He was glad that the Astrid-named girl was helping him; Toothless always thought he was like a Night Fury, very proud, and usually Hiccup didn't like help.

Toothless turned back to tracking, determined to find the missing dragons so that they could return to Berk where it was warm and safe. He knew they were close now, he could almost smell the Gronckle on the wind, but the storm was close to and the wind was picking up every second. They didn't have much time. _Not enough time to get back to Berk, _he thought. What would they do once the storm hit? Could Toothless shield all of them? Or maybe once they found the Gronckle they both could fly the humans back! But only if the storm hadn't hit yet…. And then if the Zippleback was injured badly….

Toothless didn't like the situation they were in. What could he do? Just then he looked up and saw in the distance something he thought he'd never see again. Baring his teeth, Toothless charged forward, heedless of the confused shouts behind him, determined to destroy everything in his path if that's what it took. He only got a few bounds, though, before felt something grab his leg. Turning around he prepared to kick Hiccup off his foot. But Hiccup didn't weigh that much, nor was he that strong. Next thing Toothless knew he felt himself being lifted off the ground by his foot, something webby feeling engulfing him, then his eyes were covered and he saw no more.

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><p><strong>Duh, duh duh...<strong>

**so there ya go! My computer just got really small (the words at least) so i can barely see what i'm writing...**

**I hoped you liked it! I'll probably do more Astrid and Toothless again soon, so stay tuned. Please review, and enjoy!**

**Cuio vae, Na lû ir a-goveninc,**

**Alex**


	5. Entangled

**I Love chocolate!**

**Yo all! Wassup? Been a long time huh? Yep, well, I was hit by, umm, something. Inspirationlessness disorder? Well, suffice to say I have been low on inspir. so this was hard to write. It prob. sounds dif. than most of my other chaps. cause, I dunno, it does. **

**Another reason I haven't updated is cause I have a new obsession! Young Justice! TV show BTW. Its a great one and I've been really in to it. ****I am planning to write another Fanfic on it, but you don't want to hear about that. You want the next Chapter. **

**Oh, guess what else I discovered? I have had like 700 views on this story! Dude, that's crazy! 700? AAAAHH! Sooooo excited! Y' all should review, then i'd be even happier!**

**Well, here's Chapter, um five? Yeah, i've made it past the dreaded 3-4 chapter bog! FIVE for me! yep, i'm weird!**

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><p><strong>The Pride of Your Power<strong>

**Chapter 5: Entangled**

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><p>What I saw nearly gave me a heart attack. Toothless was flying- upside down? Toothless looked like he'd taken off from the ground, his tail leading the way. Umm, Hiccup, not normal. I did a double take. What had actually occurred nearly gave me another heart attack. Toothless now hung, upside down, from a tree, his wings and limbs pressed close to his body a led weighted net. His face was squashed up against the bottom of the net and he was roaring and shooting fire as he struggled wildly to get out.<p>

Forgetting completely any pain I'd felt a moment ago, I tore free of Astrid's grasp and hurtled headlong towards my dragon. I tripped on about twenty roots on my way, but I guess my adrenaline fed my reflexes and agility as I managed to stay on my feet. It didn't take me long to reach where Toothless hung, struggling wildly, from his imprisoning net. His position did not look like a comfortable one and immediately I began wrestling with net trying to free him.

"it's okay Toothless," I told him. " I'll get you'll out of here."

He looked at me with pleading eyes and I worked harder, my fingers already hurting from their connection with the rough rope that made up the net. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Astrid and the others running over. I felt a hand on my shoulder and knew Astrid was standing behind me. She moved around until she always right next to me and began helping me with the rope.

"What happened?" she demanded.

"I don't know!" I yelled back her, surprising he both of us with my outburst. "we were walking and next thing I know I see Toothless start flying upside down." I explain, still with an exasperated tone.

"What is this thing?" Fishlegs asks, circling the net.

"It's some sort of net, obviously." Tuffnut burst out before I could say anything.

"A net? Like for fish?" Fishlegs asked confused.

"Well duh, what else would a net be for?" Tuffnut replied, obviously proud of his 'knowledge'.

"Idiot!" Ruffnut hit her brother upside the head. "There aren't any fish on land."

"But it is a net." Astrid mused. "Meaning it's probably meant to catch something."

"Um, yeah." I growled, trying to rip the ropes apart with my bare hands. Status: not working. "And it succeeded in catching something."

"You think the trap was meant for dragons?" Astrid asked a little too incredulously considering the situation.

"No," I hissed, sarcasm dripping from my voice. "It's for giant man eating birds." Fishlegs and the twins gave me weird looks. I could tell Fishlegs really wanted a giant man eating bird for a pet. "Of course it's for dragons!" I shouted, making them jump. "What else is twenty feet long and lives on Berk? Don't answer that." I added as Fishlegs took a breath.

Sighing in frustrated I angrily threw down the bit of the net, aiming a kick at a stone, but missing. Toothless looked down at me through his disoriented face in worry. I reached up and patted his nose, now examining the rope trap from a more logical point of view. The net was hanging from a tree like a piece of cloth tied to a stick, all the ends gathered up to form a sort of bag. The ends must have been attached to the tree before, but the net must have been laying on the ground covered in leaves. When Toothless stepped on it he must have triggered the something that caused the ropes to be pulled up towards the tree, successfully trapping him. It was extremely clever, I had to admit.

"Don't worry bud," I told him again. "I'll get you out."

If I could climb up to the ropes, maybe I could get one to release, then Toothless could get out. "Astrid, I need to climb up to the top of the net. It's attached to the tree and I could sever one of the rope, the whole thing would open up!"

Astrid looked up, blowing hair out of her face. She'd been sawing at the rope, trying to make a big enough hole for Toothless to get through. It was slow, but she was making more progress than my hands had. I guess some thing were never meant to be...

"Are you crazy?" She glared at me incredulously. I figured thats about the response I would get. It was the normal one anyway.

"Yeah, I probably am, but I think it will work." I told, trying to sound reassuring, but that's not exactly easy when you just admitted to being crazy. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I was the one who would have to climb up the rope: no one else would be able to figure out how to let it down. Well, I could probably instruct Artemis, but I didn't want her chopping with her axe so close to Toothless.

As I prepared for the ascent I noticed Ruff and Tuff weren't behind us anymore. I figured they were just looking around the clearing for their dragon. Fishlegs must've gone with them.

"Hiccup, are you sure you should do this?" Astrid asked, probably attempting to test my sanity.

"Yes, Astrid, I'm sure." I reached up as high as I could on the net, grabbing a hole in the net. I placed my other hand in another hole and lifted up my right leg, balancing on my prosthetic.

"You'll catch me if I fall, right?" I asked, wobbling as I tried to get myself centered. This was going to be interesting to say the least.

"I'm not making any promises." Astrid replied, obviously still doubting my mental stability. I was beginning to also.

Using all my strength, I hoisted myself onto my right leg, now lodged in the net in similar fashion to my hands. Once I was off the ground I felt the net begin to tip outward towards my face, causing my back to head towards a horizontal position with the ground. This was not going as planned. I tried to put my prosthetic into a hole, but it kept slipping through and kicking Toothless in the face. After a a minute of struggling, I finally admitted defeat.

"Astrid!" I called, hoping she hadn't followed the twins. "Um, help?"

Next thing I knew, I felt a strong hand on my back and I was being pushed into a vertical position, a hand being placed under my prosthetic foot.

"Once you get up higher the net won't cage in on you as much." Astrid. What would a guy do without her?

I sighed, temporarily lost in dream land until I heard a grunt behind me and a shove on the bottom of my prosthetic. Remembering my mission once again I pushed up, slowly beginning to climb the rope. My had leg was incredibly sore already and the extreme physical strain I was putting it through was going to make walking tomorrow unbearable. Assuming we made it until tomorrow. Climbing got easier and soon I was nearly to the top of the rope. Toothless had been following my progress as best he could, considering his face was still jammed into the bottom of the net.

"Alright bud, almost there." I stopped to rest for a minute and looked down at Astrid on the ground below. I was high up, though the height didn't bother me; I actually enjoyed it as it reminded me of flying. I turned my gaze back to the task at hand. A few more feet up and was perched on the top of the net where four ropes held it to the tree. If I could cut one of them, a side of the net would fall and Toothless could hopefully crawl out. I pulled my dagger from my belt and set to work sawing at the rope. I was careful to cut the one across for me so when it broke it wouldn't upset my perch.

It was hard work and, despite the frigid air surrounding me, I was sweating by the time I finally made it through. As is expected, the side of the net fell downwards, leaving a considerable gap for Toothless to crawl through. He managed with some difficulty to reposition his head at the upper end of his body, stumbling out of the net and shaking himself as if to rid his body of some unwanted presence. Then he began scratching his face with his claws and a nearby tree. I guess the rope was itchy.

I was basking in my victory, turning to rub it in Astrid's face when a vehement cry nearly caused me to topple off the net.

"Who did this?" It sounded like Ruffnut, but I'd never heard her so angry before- even at her brother.

I quickly began my downward descent, only to have my prosthetic get caught in the rope causing me to fall the rest of the two feet to the ground. I landed heavily on something- hard, but softer than a rock.

"Hiccup, gerrof me."

I quickly rolled to the side, exposing a very angry looking Astrid.

"There, I caught you. Happy?"

I made to reply, only to be interrupted by another piercing yell, this one directed at me. I noticed, with relief, that this one held less vehemence. I leapt to my, well, foot as best I only having one foot to leap to, and tried to pull Astrid up with too. It proved harder than I expected.

"You're such a wimp, Hiccup." She sighed jokingly.

I didn't really have a witty comeback for that, so I covered by making an impressive attempt to run gallantly off towards the call of distress sounded moments ago. I tripped on a root and would have tumbled head long into a tree if Astrid hadn't grabbed the collar of my shirt. I righted myself and we both arrived at the scene of the yell, Toothless right behind us.

What I saw nearly made me yell also. Instead it closed up my throat and wouldn't allow me to say a word. The Zippleback lay on its side in a patch of mud and blood, ropes strapping it to the ground in a gruesome manner. It had numerous gashes along its body, all in straight lines like they came from a whip. An extremely thick, heavy, spiked whip. Its eyes we're partly open, clouded over, staring unseeing into the distance. It breath came in rattling gasps, each seeming to take longer to arrive than the last.

Looking up, I angrily swept my gaze over the surrounding area, looking for someone to blame for this. Once I found whoever did this, they would wish they'd never been born. I could feel anger rising in my face, my fist clenched, my legs tensed, I could feel my heart in my throat. This was wrong. Plain and simple wrong. I could feel Toothless' gaze on my neck; if I was angry I could only imagine how he was feeling. Then there was Ruffnut and Tuffnut; the Zippleback was their dragon, they must be fuming. I knew I had to act strong, not give in to my anger. My dad used to say I never had what it took to be a chieftain, but I knew that it took leadership and I had some of that- no matter how deeply buried it seemed at times.

"Alright guys." I said, turning back to them, fighting to keep my emotions under control. Tuffnut was staring dumbfounded at his dragon while his sister knelt by its head, doing who knew what. "This is bad, yes." I began, trying to instill some confidence into my voice. Not easy. "But we have to take action." Yes, that sounded lame.

"Yeah, action against whoever did this!" Ruffnut yelled, leaping up. Her brother stood behind her, as if to back her up.

"Yeah, what she said!" If it had been any other circumstances, I would have about passed out hearing Ruff and Tuff agree about something, but considering our predicament, I'd probably have killed them if they hadn't.

"Well first of all-"

"We have no idea who did this." Astrid cut me off. "And if they have any sense they're probably miles away from here by now, if they knew we were following them. And even if they didn't, we're here now and with a Night Fury, so if they value their heads, I'm sure they took off running as soon as they caught sight of us. What we have to focus on is the injured dragon and the still missing Gronckle."

Oh Astrid, my soul dances with you…. Yeah, I was probably delirious from pain, exhaustion and shock, but whenever Astrid takes control of a situation like that, well, what Viking doesn't love a strong woman. Sometimes I think she'd make a better chief than me. Well, I actually think that most the time, but I'm trying to train myself out of derogatory thinking. And I wouldn't want Astrid to know that I think that way either; I'm working on acting tougher around her and that wouldn't help my cause.

My turn to add some helpful input: "First things first. We need to get the Zippleback out of the ropes and check to make sure he's, umm…. Well, make sure he doesn't bleed to death." I was going to say okay, but that would have been dumb. I'm working on not being that.

I knelt down and began sawing through the ropes with my knife. I'd been doing a lot of sawing today. My dad would be proud. Astrid, seeing what I was doing, swung her axe and severed all the ropes in one go. You gotta love that girl. I quickly threw all the ropes off the body and began assessing the damage. Most of the cuts were pretty deep, oozing blood and puss, making me want to puke. I held it back as best I could and tried to think of what to do. I had nothing to wrap the wounds in, nor anyway to clean them. My best bet was to try to get onto its feet.

I looked up at Ruff and Tuff who were standing watching so intently I was afraid their gaze would burn holes in my head. They still seemed in shock. Fishlegs was bouncing nervously on his feet, looking like he could use a trip to the bushes.

"Guys, I need help. We need to try to get him up on his feet." I stood and gripped the Zippleback under his back, holding back a cry of disgust as my hands encountered blood and mud. I began trying to heave him up when I felt something wet and slimy brush over my arms. Looking up I saw Toothless licking the Zippleback's wounds. I sighed; I was glad someone knew what they were doing. I stood back and let Toothless go to work, shivering as a blast of wind tore through the forest, my sweat from my climb up the rope turning to ice. We had to get back to the village and fast.

I let Toothless continue his work, Ruff and Tuff still standing mutely and Fishlegs getting even bouncier. There was still the matter of the Gronckle to deal with and I began slowly wandering around the area, trying to spot any more signs of life. As far as we knew the Gronckle wasn't hurt, but judging from what had happened to Toothless and the Zippleback he was probably in some sort of trap somewhere. Astrid walked next to me, watching me. Her gaze was disconcerting and I was about to ask her what she wanted when I heard a bone chilling voice over to my left.

"Looking for something, little Vikings?"

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><p><strong>Woop woop! yeah for short chapters! sorry bout that, I really should have somethin' long, but i'm outta inspiration! aAAAAAH! Not cool! And no, its NOT writers block! I have ideas, I just don't feel motivated to write them. I'm short on motivation, AAAAAHH! <strong>

**Nope, I'm def. not alright. Well, hope you enjoyed. Review? Please? (I can spell that word now, yay me!)**

**Cuio vae, Na lû ir a-goveninc,**

**Alex**


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